The women's soccer game against Appalachian State University (ASU) on Sept. 4 went back and forth for over 108 minutes, with both sides knocking on the door, but neither gaining the advantage that was needed to put home the go-ahead goal.
Then, just like that, it was over.
In a freaky sort of scenario, the ball was left alone about two yards in front of the left post of Longwood's goal. Mountaineer freshman forward Julia Holz took advantage of the opportunity presented to her and tapped home the golden goal to give the Mountaineers (2-3) a hard-fought double overtime win over the Lancers (1-3-2).
On a day where the temperatures were in the upper 80s, but with a heat index near 100°F, Longwood and Appalachian State did battle at the Athletics Complex in front of a raucous crowd of 327. For the first 10 minutes Longwood dominated the competition, with a couple of great chances snuffed out by ASU's sophomore goalkeeper Amy Kolowsky. Throughout the first half, Longwood created several great chances that were either saved by Kolowsky, or mishandled near or inside the penalty box. Junior goalkeeper Kyra Byron also made several great saves on ASU's first half chances, including one in the 40th minute, where she had to leap high into the air, only to tip the ball off of her fingers.
Five minutes into the second half, Longwood had their best chance of the game to that point when a corner bounced around the box before offside was called, much to the dismay of Longwood supporters. In the 85th minute, Longwood was lucky to avoid giving up a penalty to ASU when a Mountaineer was tripped up in the box and stayed down. No card was given. A 90th-minute free kick for Longwood was not quite good enough to end the contest in regulation, and the teams went to the first of two 10 minute "golden goal" extra time periods.
In the first overtime period, Longwood had one good chance in the 99th minute, but Appalachian State had more chances and possessed the ball for longer in that first session. In the 103rd minute, the Lancers had their best chance of the contest near the goal, but another bad cross stifled that opportunity. Three minutes later, with the end of the match approaching, Mountaineer junior midfielder Hannah Coad was given a yellow card for tripping a Longwood player on the touchline near the App. State bench. Mountaineers Katy Dodd and Leah Drawdy assisted on the game winner. Dodd put a cross in toward the left side of the net and found nobody, until Holz ran up and tapped the loose ball home past Byron to end it, sending Appalachian State home with their second win of the season.
"[The game] pretty much sums up the entire week for us," said associate head coach Steve Brdarski afterwards, speaking of the third time that week Longwood was in an overtime or double overtime contest. "[We've played] three overtime games, and [only gotten] one goal. It's definitely a bitter pill to swallow. It wasn't a clean goal that they scored. They really didn't have great chances, and their keeper had a lot of great saves. We just came up short; the heat and humidity wasn't a problem."
The Lancers next play on Friday at 7pm against Tennessee Tech for Wounded Warrior Weekend. The game will be at the Athletics Complex.
